Gospel, Good News - Peti Szabad

Sunday sermon recorded on March 29, 2026   

Part of the "Be a Blessing" series.   

Slides used in the sermon: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1X8bop222FI_q_CTBsLghq9wWgMlR5NHJ/view?usp=drive_link

https://linktr.ee/northpointema

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

So it there's a series of being a blessing, and as a you know, as a church, we can talk about a lot of things, and you can preach a lot of different things from the Bible, but one of the you know, this spring we want to focus on how can as a community of believers be a blessing to the community that will that God placed us in. You know, we're not just here for our sake, we're not just here to get a pre-purchased ticket to heaven and then just sit in our seat like on a big bus or a plane and wait till we get to our destination. That's that's not the plan. The plan is actually for us to be a blessing for the rest of humanity, starting with the people of God, but but going beyond the people of God. Amen. So uh today's sermon is in that is in that spirit, so it might not meet your personal needs. Sometimes people go to church to be spiritually fed, uh, and there's you know, sometimes you need that. I get that. Uh and and sometimes it it helps with your spiritual development, hearing the message, and sometimes I preach messages like that. But this spring I'm preaching messages that probably will kind of hopefully kind of push you a little bit out of your comfort zone and out of our church building and out of our regular way of living our lives and out into the community to do something that brings blessings to people. So today's sermon is called Gospel Good News. All right. Got three points. Why gospel? Gospel, but how? And are we good news? So so the first question that I have why gospel? I want to ask you guys a question. This is actually becoming a real participatory service. What comes to mind when you think of the word gospel?

unknown 1:58

Good news.

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Good news, okay. You cheated because that was the title of my sermon, but you're good, you're good. Rich. Praise music. Praise music, okay. Gospel. Gospel songs. Gospel songs, yeah. Gospel music, yeah. Worship. Worship. I think of the old Jesus Christ superstar. Jesus Christ superstar. Right? Got that. Mind change. Mind change. Okay. I'm not sure how to put that together, but there's probably a few steps between. Okay. Got it. Alright. Anybody? Yeah. Gospel. What comes to mind when you think of gospel?

unknown 2:36

The New Testament.

SPEAKER_00 2:37

The New Testament as a gospel. Okay. Yeah? Linda? I wasn't raising my hand. Oh, you were just thinking. Raising your hand. She was like, she raised her pen, and I'm like, oh, I thought that was a raising hand, but that was just a raising, thinking hand. Worse, worse for me. Alright. Well, but you know, what do what do you think, what do you guys think young people, people in their teens and twenties, think of the world when they when they hear. I I'm not I wasn't planning on putting people on the spot, but if you feel if you feel like that's that's you, you know, this is addressed to you, I'd love to hear what young people think when they think of the word gospel. Oscar. I I I know that. What I think would make is rules. Rules. Something for old folks. Something for old folks, okay? Religious. Religion, religious stuff. Uh-huh. Any any other thoughts of what a got what people young people think when they think of the word gospel? Yeah. Yeah. Judgment. Wow, interesting. Yeah. Julia. I know this is good news. You know this is good news. Good news. Uh-huh. Yeah, Haley.

unknown 3:49

Talking about God.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Talking about God. Yeah, talking about God. Okay, that's. I love that. Thanks for speaking up, young people. Come on, Haley. Come on, Haley. Alright. So, this word gospel is actually a fairly unique word that wasn't very regularly used even in the times of the Bible. But Jesus decided to use it. In Mark chapter 1, right at the beginning of the Gospel of Mark, a story just starts with a little introduction of John the Baptist and his situation. Well, once he gets into prison, it says that Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the good news, which is that's our word, the gospel, of God. The time has come, he said, the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe. Again, the good news or the gospel. In Luke 4, verse 43, again, at the very beginning of his ministry, the disciples are looking for him, and he goes, but he said, I must preach the good news, the gospel of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent. So Jesus, when he thought about why he came to this earth, he was like, he used this word gospel, which is an old English word that we we don't know what it means really much, but it actually only means good news. But it means a little more than that. Actually, the Greek word is eangelion. It just means it's two words. The first two letters of Ew, that means good. And Angelion means a message. Angel, same word that wherever the word angel comes from, is it as angels or messengers? That's what that means. So it's a good mess, it's a it's a good news, a good message. Alright? Oftentimes today we have a lot of connected meanings to Bible words. So let's try to strip that away and think of what would people think when they thought about this idea of the gospel. This word actually was used, not the Greek word. Wait till I show you some Hebrew. That's the next slide. But the Old Testament was translated to Greek, and the way these words in the Hebrew were translated were used the same, you know, that Evangelion. So what did this original mean? In the Hebrew scriptures, gospel translates the verb basar and the noun basorah in both the Septuagint and the New Testament. So these are Greek versions of the Old Bible. They are these words are the New Testament quotes some of the Old Testament. They're translated as Evangelia Zin and Evangelion, meaning good news or proclaiming good news. So there's a noun and there's a verb. Alright, that was all the complicated stuff. I actually want to show you some samples of how this word is used in the Old Testament. And a lot of times this word is actually used in proclamation of some future amazing thing. This idea of the kingdom of God that Jesus actually announces, that's what this is connected to. We're going to look at four scriptures in Isaiah, starting in chapter 40, verse 9. And I highlighted the words that uh in the Hebrew it would call Batzah or Bessarah, and then in Greek it would be translated in Evangelion, or Old English gospel, or it's in our your Bible, it's translated good news, or some of the older versions say good tidings. You know, that's sorry, another old English expression. But but it just Yeah, you we sing them in songs, right? And maybe when we sing them in songs, we don't understand it either, but that's you know, that might not be helpful. Figgy pudding, right? You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid. Say to the towns of Judah, here is your God. Wow. You know, isn't that isn't that inspiring? Isaiah 41, verse 27. I was the first to tell Zion, look, here they are. I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings. This whole section of Isaiah after chapter 40 is has all these uh pictures of what it will be like for God to establish his kingdom. That's what it's focusing on. Isaiah 52, verse 7. How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who says to Zion, your God reigns. Right? Isn't that amazing? You know, when you read these passages, you're like, ah, I can't wait. In Isaiah 60, verse 6, and and this is the North uh New American Standard Bible, because all the other ones have uh actually just uses proclaim the word, include good news in the procla word, the word proclaim praises. But it's it's good news of praise, actually, that's what it is. A multitude of camels will cover you. I don't know how you feel about that, but that means your flock of camels will be big. Okay? It's not covering you personally. The young camels of Midian and Epha, all those from Sheba will come. Those are probably cool places. They will bring gold and frankincense. Another word that we're probably gonna struggle with to understand what it means, and will bear good news of the praises of the Lord. All of these passages, the i the idea behind good news is a proclamation, an announcement of something amazing thing happening. The Roman Empire sent out people to spread good news when a new emperor was elected and crowned. That was good news because now all the subjects of the empire will be blessed by this new emperor. So Jesus chose this very word that I'm here to bring this evangelion, I'm here to bring this gospel, I'm here to bring this message because there is a new king. Here is your God, here is your God who reigns. Now, how he went about it was very different. But I love this story of Jesus' first proclamation of the good news in Luke chapter 4. Let's turn there in verse 14 to 21. Bible says, Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. This is after spending 40 days and nights fasting in the wilderness and being tempted by Satan. And news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised him. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was his custom, and he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Funny how Isaiah comes a centerpiece in this story. Unrolling it, he found a place where it is written The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on it, were fastened on him. And he began by saying to them, Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. Right? People are like, whoa, what is this is happening? Jesus is saying that all these prophecies that Isaiah is prophesying about this kingdom, about the announcement of this good news, is happening right now and has happened. Jesus claimed that rich heritage of bringing this good news. He saw himself as with the role of bringing that good news to people, to let people know that our God actually came down to reign on this earth. All the things that destroy people's lives, all the things that empower people, all the things that enslave people and put them in prison, all the things that blind people, all the things that oppress people, all those things have been reigning in this world for a long time, and they still are. But the gospel is that God decided to show up and bring his kingdom and start the end of all those oppressions, to start the release of the poor, to start to opening the eyes of blind people, to start to bring salvation to people, to proclaim freedom for prisoners. I love that promise. Isn't that good news? How did Jesus went about it? He says, Can you guys build a throne for me and I'll just sit on the top and then I'll be your king? He didn't do that, did he? You know, and this is the bigger importance of a question for me. Because we we know that Jesus preached the gospel and he brought this evangelion and the good news. But how did he do it? You know, over the last two dozen years, Christianity has tried to imitate Jesus by proclaiming the gospel. And oftentimes we failed at it so miserably. What's your typical religious Christian experience? You go to the church, you hear something that guilts you out, and out of that guilt, you're trying to do I'm I'm gonna try to do better. Is that familiar? There's not a whole lot of good news about that when you think about it. Right? It's easy to think about. I need to convict you how bad of a sinner you are, so you feel bad about it, and maybe that will motivate you to change. Is this what Jesus did? That's my question. There's another way of doing this, although I haven't seen one of these in a while. Uh maybe in the movies, but the idea is that you know the sinners will go to hell and they're gonna burn in hell. You save yourselves, you know. This this doomsday preacher. I don't know. Uh could be, could be. A, AI, AI does weird things, Bob. I just found this image online. You know, and and the good news in that situation is that destruction is awaiting you. You're heading towards hell, and and and and you need to not do that. You need to turn around and change. Is that true?

unknown 16:54

Yes. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yes. Is this what Jesus did? Is this what Jesus did? He did not. That's not how he preached the gospel. He didn't want to run, you're gonna go to hell. Oh, you're gonna go to hell. You know, but if you actually want to change, you need to listen to my goodness. He didn't do that. Yet, as Christians, we kind of trying to get the same result with different tools. You know, today we live it in times that uh society calls post-Christian. That means that that people have been listening to this type of preaching and this type of religion and the pressure that comes from it and the guilt trips that come, and they're decided we're done. Only one-third of humanity at this point believes in Christianity. This is this is less and less. More in people. In the last 15 years, 40 million Americans went from one of those four top categories and then decided they're gonna believe in none. What's your religious affiliation? When they asked that question, they hit the word none. 40 million more of them just in the last 15 years. That's that's that's a couple New York cities. That's a ton of people. Right? I'm sure there are a lot of those people in this in in this area. Now, if they already decided they not they're gonna go and and and and and move beyond and on from Christianity or from other religion, do you think that us guilt tripping them or preaching down to them or bringing telling them they're heading to hell and that that that will really get them? You know, sometimes inviting them to church doesn't even get them. Because they I've been there, I've done that, I don't want to do it anymore. Thank you. Good for you, but not for me. You you've have you have you heard those responses? This is reality. How did Jesus do it? Is the question that I'm trying to ask today. So we're gonna spend some time in Luke chapter 5 to look at how Jesus did it. Now, there's some there's some differences between you and Jesus. Uh I'm sure you knew that before. Now, Jesus had, Jesus was God in the flesh. He also had the power to do some amazing miracles and to heal people. And God bless him for that, right? Uh we don't have that same power. Uh I I wish some of you did, because then I instead of putting out a prayer request, I would just called you about a week ago and say, hey, can you just come over and take care of this thing? Right? Uh but it doesn't work like that. So in Luke chapter 5, we read this story. Uh that's one of my favorite stories in the Bible. I actually am very challenged by this story in on many levels, and we're not going to be able to focus on all of those things. And I've got a few stories actually, so hang hang hang in there with me. One day, as he was teaching, this is Jesus, Pharisees and teachers of the law who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, Friend, your sins are forgiven. You know, I am almost shocked in this story. The whole story is gearing up for Jesus to heal this person, and he doesn't. Not at first. Because this person, did he need healing? Of course he needed healing. But he needed something even more than healing. And to get to understand that Jesus decides to take that need that was even a greater need than this person's healing and health and wholeness. Bring it up. And that is the forgiveness of sins. You know, it's not easy to talk about sins today. Maybe you can talk about your sins, but don't talk about my sins. Right? Sins are very, you know, because they all connect. Back to that doomsday preacher guilt trip type of mentality. So let's not bring up sins. But Jesus brings up sins. But not just sins in general, not just to convict people, he brings up the opportunity for people to have their sins forgiven. You know, we're not here to guilt people out. We're here to talk about a Jesus who can forgive their sins. What an amazing news. Right? So Jesus, even though he was going to heal this person, he brings up their spirit, he brings up this spiritual conversation with the forgiveness of sins. I think there's something to learn from Jesus. Not instead of healing, but before he's getting to healing. He doesn't mind bringing up the idea that this person, yes, he needs to be healed, but he also has a greater need of his sins being forgiven. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law begin to thinking to themselves, who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone? And Jesus is like, Yes, I'm so glad you guys are getting this. This is awesome. That's what I want you guys to think about these things. Who else could forgive your sins except for God? And I am coming to tell you that I am here to forgive people's sins. That's part of the good news. You're just missing out on it. Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, why are you thinking these things in your hearts? And then asked the question. Which is easier to say? Your sins are forgiven? Or to say, get up and walk. And I I don't know, I wasn't there, but I I can imagine Jesus taking a pregnant pause. For people to consider this, which one is easier to say? What do you guys think? Neither are easier to say. Yeah. For us humans, we can't do any of these stuff. We can heal a paralytic and we can forgive people's sins. This is all beyond us. But for God, can God do either one of those? Yes. Easily. God has the power to forgive sins. And so Jesus asking the question makes people think about spiritual realities while engaging in a physical challenges. And then he concludes, but that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. And at this point, he turns and says to the paralyzed man, I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home. Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on, and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, We have seen remarkable things today. You know, the guy walking home with his mat was quite a sight. And I think the conversation about the spiritual reality of this person and the forgiveness of sins probably went over the head of most people that were there in that day. Because they what did they do? They were like, wow, we've seen remarkable things. They focused on what they've seen. But Jesus at the same time is teaching about an unseen reality of our need to get right with God. And that's part of his teaching. That's part of the good news. But it's not separated from meeting this person's need. Jesus brought the package and he met needs, but at the same time talked about the spiritual needs we have. Then the story continues, and this is uh this is exciting to me how the story continues because this is Jesus' kind of handbook on how to get the gospel message across. In verse 27, after this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levite sitting in his tax booth. You know, today this probably would be an ice agent. Right? Somebody that a lot of people despise. Or it might actually be an immigrant. I don't know. Depends on where you're sitting and where you're looking at things. You know, Jesus goes and what does he do? Avoids them like the plague. No. We're tempted to do this thing because we sometimes think that the good news is only for deserving people. But this good news is for all people. This is the gospel that Jesus brought. It is that tax collector, he is for the Romans, he is a traitor to his nation. You as a Jewish person, Jesus, should not even talk to him. He's worse than a dog. That was the sentiment. What does Jesus do? He goes up to his booth and says, follow me. You know, following Jesus is the way out of all of our troubles. That's the good news. It's not very complicated. Now, I didn't say it was easy because sometimes following Jesus makes you walk away from things that are important to you. But Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd, it's even more of these guys. A large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. You know, and here come the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. And sometimes, as Christians, we can be so like these guys. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belong to their sect complain to his disciples, why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Right? You know, you get you we we shouldn't eat we should stay away from these people. These are the bad people. You might even contain, you get, you know, they you they might be contagious with their stuff. And they they might give you something that that you don't want. You know, your your purity will suffer if you mingle. Bad company corrupts good morals. It's in the Bible. But when God comes to visit his people, nothing will corrupt God. Jesus answered them, it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. Right who you were. You forget what God brought you out of. And my question is, how do sinful people feel that when they come amongst us? Do they feel like, oh, I better better get my act together because these are Christians here. Or do they feel like, you know, they these people welcome me as I am? Now, they're not gonna then they're not gonna just ignore the fact that I'm living in sin because Jesus didn't do that. He called Levi to follow him, and Levi did. And he called others to follow him. You know, but he ate with tax collectors and sinners. Can we follow in his footsteps? My last story that I want to look at uh is in uh is a story where after uh that happens after Jesus feeds the 5,000. Now I don't know how he did that miracle. Uh I'm I'm I'm I'm you know I'm starting uh I started making sardo bread a few weeks ago, and my bread is getting better and better, uh, but it still doesn't multiply the way that I can feed 5,000 people. And and I'm still not a big fish eater, so at this point. But you know, what happens is uh Jesus Jesus commutes uh across this lake of the Lake of Galilee. You should need a boat to get across so you can go to go on the shore as well. And and sometimes the people figure it out and they show up and then they are in the middle of nowhere, and at this one of these occasions Jesus feeds them, feeds about 5,000 people with some bread and some fish. Now, if you're one of those 5,000 people and you were well fed that day, what do you do the next day?

unknown 31:41

Go back.

SPEAKER_00 31:42

Go back for more. Alright, John chapter 6, verse 25. When they found him, this is on the when they found him on the meaning Jesus, on the other side of the lake, they asked him, Rabbi, when did you get here? Jesus answered, I tell you the truth. You are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. All right. You know, Jesus recognizes that. Yep, you guys was it was it was that meal good last week? I'm glad you did you enjoy brunch at church? Okay, now you're back. You know, you're back because we might have food today again. And then Jesus just kind of uses that opportunity again to teach some spiritual principles. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. Again, what is he talking about? He's talking about forgiveness of sins. He's talking about getting right with God, spirituality. What is he using? The food that he gave out the week before. He's using that, he's connecting it. On him, meaning the Son. God, the Father has placed his seal of approval. That's why I was able to feed you guys last week. Then they asked him, What must we do to work to do the works? What must we do to do the works God requires? Jesus is like, okay, okay, we're engaging, we're having a spiritual conversation here. This is great. The work of God is this to believe in the one he has sent. Alright. Not not very complicated. So they asked him, What miraculous sign then you will give what to that we may see it and believe. What will you do? Let me let me let me give you some hints, Jesus. Maybe. Maybe you can do something like what our what Moses did. Our forefathers ate the Mada in the dessert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. So Jesus, you know, they ask us the question, what do we need to do the work of God? But Jesus tells them, and what do they do? Okay, okay, but can we just have that some of that bread again? Maybe a little bit of fish. You know, what does Jesus do? Oh man, you're a generation, you're gonna rot in hell. No. Jesus said to them, I tell you the truth. It isn't Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it what it is my father who gives you true bread from heaven. Yeah, see, Jesus is trying to get this conversation back to the spiritual level. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, not just a couple pieces of bread and a few fish. Real life, that's what you guys need. That's what I'm bringing. Come on, sir. They said, from now on, give us this bread. They're stuck. Are we sometimes stuck? Then Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never go never be thirsty. And and he he continues to bring the conversation back to spiritual things, but the people they just want some more bread and some more fish. You know, Jesus wasn't a religious freak. He engaged with people's real needs, tried to meet them, not ignoring the fact that the greatest need they have is their spiritual need. He was comfortable talking about both of those things. He didn't mind eating with tax collectors, he didn't mind seeing sick people, he didn't he he was there to bring blessings to people, but the real blessing is for people to actually find their way back to home to God. Now, how do we do this today? How do we do trust some of the same idea that Jesus did? How do we connect with people where they are at, meet some of the needs they have? Sometimes they get offended if you try to do that. People just told Jesus told people, hey, the truth will set you free. What people say, we were never slaves. Who do you think you are? You know, stop telling. You know, sometimes the good news is not even good news. Jesus never got offended. He never kind of short circuited the conversation. He he never tried just manipulate people into coming or believing. He just continued to connect with people wherever they were. So my last question today is are we good news? Come on. And uh oh boy, I'm not gonna have time for this. So we're gonna just skip down to there's this idea, there's a uh in in Paul in 2 Corinthians, I I've got a whole few number of scriptures on this, which uh I did not find way into another sermon. But we're gonna read this one, we're gonna read. Because when Paul, Paul is quoting uh again from the Old Testament the same concept that Jesus was proclaiming in Luke 4 of the good news of God's favor. It says in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 1 and 2, it says, as God, fellow workers, we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain. So you and I, according to what the Bible teaches here, we can be a dead-end street for God's grace. It comes in and it doesn't flow anywhere else. And then then God goes, it's in vain. It's for nothing. That's not how God designed it. God designed this to come to you, come to me, and then pass on to others. For he says, In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you. I'll tell you, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation. You know, remember that you might be maybe the only Bible some people will ever read. What picture will they get of the God that you and I read actually from the Bible? Another quote, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

unknown 38:56

Go back.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

Yeah. I want to share briefly about this guy, he's a Roman emperor. He wrote the following thing. Uh, this is a few decades after Christianity has been accepted as the the as a valid religion in the Roman Empire, and this guy decided, nope, I'm gonna kick Christianity out again. So it wasn't just a right-of-way thing. Uh, he says, let us consider that nothing has so much contributed to the progress of the superstition of Christians as their charity to strangers. I think we ought to discharge this obligation ourselves, establish hospitals in every place, for it would be a shame for us to abandon our poor. While the impious Galileans, he's referring to Christians, provide not only for their own, but also for ours, welcoming them into their agape. They attract them as children are attracted with cakes. You know, those those Christians in the first few centuries, they understood that people don't care about what you know until they know that you care. And and they cared. And how do how do we care, but also not be shy to bring the message of spirituality into conversation? I don't know. Let's experiment with this thing, guys. Here's some questions for today, as I as a as I conclude my sermon. Do I have a religious or a biblical understanding of the gospel, the good news of Jesus? Have I been following traditional or Jesus-like ways in being in being and bringing the good news to people? Do I even engage in ways that are out of the ordinary? You know, sometimes we I think this is what I think, sometimes we think that good Christians just keep to themselves. But that wasn't Jesus. He went out of an ordinary way of life. He didn't just go to work, came back, did his thing, and then maybe attended church on Sunday. That wasn't just that wasn't Jesus. And that shouldn't be just us. How have I been trying to be a blessing to people? You know, it's hard to be a blessing to people. It doesn't come naturally. You actually have to think about it, you have to be intentional about it, you have to prepare for it, you have to pray for it, you have to set your mind to it, and then and then and then find place in your life for it. If I was or we were the only Bible some people read, would they find Jesus? Isn't that a good question? So thank you for listening to me, brothers and sisters, friends. Let us be the good news. Because God is the good news. Thank you.